Syllabus Jewish Conversions in Medieval Spain - 13431

Last update 01-09-2017

HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 1st degree (Bachelor)

Responsible Department: history of jewish people & contemporary jewry

Academic year: 0

Semester: 1st Semester

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Yosi Yisraeli

Coordinator Email: [email protected]

Coordinator Office Hours:

Teaching Staff: Dr.

page 1 / 6

Course/Module description: The probabilities and realities of conversion to Christianity became a significant component of the Jewish experience in the Middle Ages. This course will broadly introduce several aspects of this phenomenon and its historical developments, paying special heed to the circumstances that were formed in the Iberian Peninsula from the 12th century and up until the mass conversions of the 15th century. We shall ask what were the main factors that fostered this phenomenon, and what roles did conversions and converts played in the spiritual and communal self-definition of both Christians and Jews.

Course/Module aims: To introduce “conversion” as an historical concept that could embody a wide range of phenomena that vary in their scope, character and motivations. To present the specific theological and historic meanings and baggage that conversion had in the Jewish-Christian context. To follow several of the main developments in Jewish and Christian attitudes toward conversions and converts in the Late Middle Ages. To present several conversionist ideologies and their propagators.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to: Recognize “conversion” as a dynamic and multifaceted notion that embodies the changing assumptions about religious identity. Distinguish and relate between social and theological aspects of Jewish conversions.

To describe the different attitudes among Jews and Christians toward such conversions – and their theological or social rational. Address the unique meaning that Jewish conversions had, given the shared histories of the two religions. Write a paper on the subjects discussed in the course

Attendance requirements(%): 90

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:

Course/Module Content: What is “conversion”: different historical models. The Christian ideal of conversion and the Jewish question.

page 2 / 6

Conversion of the Jews, theological and legal implications. Conversions through Jewish eyes: Apostasy, coercion and martyrdom. Conversion as a social strategy: Opportunities and risks. Converts, mission and polemics: Petrus Alphonsi and the rational challenge; Nicholas Donin and the assault on the Talmud; Pablo Christiani and the Christian truth in rabbinic sources; Abner of Burgos and the effects of conversionist propaganda among the Jews. The mass conversions of 1391-1415: Between coercion and a crisis of faith. New forms of identity: Crypto-Jews vs. Israelite Christians. The Mass conversions and the rise of the racial component.

Required Reading: קטעים מן הברית החדשה (מתוך הבשורה על פי מתי, מעשה השליחים, אגרות פאולוס אל הגלטים ואל הרומים). בן ששון, מנחם. "תפילתם של אנוסים," בתוך קדושת החיים וחירוף הנפש, בעריכת ישעיהו גפני ואביעזר רביצקי (ירושלים: מרכז זלמן שזר, 1992) 153-166. אלברט בת שבע, משפטו של ברוך: הפרוטוקול הראשון של שפיטת אנוס בפני האינקוויזיציה (1320) (רמת גן: אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, 1974), 80-96 (פרק שמיני: הודאתו של ברוך). בער, יצחק. תולדות היהודים בספרד הנוצרית, מהדורה שניה (תל אביב: עם עובד, 1965), 192-215.

כהן, ג'רמי. כעיוור במראה: היהודי בתפיסה הנוצרית בימי-הביניים (ירושלים: מרכז זלמן שזר, 2002), 22-7 ]פרק המבוא[; 27-37 [אוגוסטינוס על היהודים והיהדות], 137-152 [תפיסה מחודשת של חוסר האמונה היהודי – פתיחה]. כ"ץ, יעקב. "אף על פי שחטא ישראל הוא", תרביץ 27 (תשי"ח), 203-217. מיוחס ג'יניאו, עליזה. קרובים ורחוקים: יהודים ונוצרים בספרד של ימי-הביניים, "הדרך שנזנחה: אלונסו דה קרתחינה וחיבורו 'למגן האחדות הנוצרית'" (תל-אביב: מפעלים אוניברסיטאיים, 2000), 133-160. סטאו, קנת. מיעוט בעולם נוכרי (ירושלים: מרכז זלמן שזר, 1997), 15-46. רמב"ם. איגרת השמד. בתוך, רבינו משה בן מימון: איגרות, תירגם לעברית ביאר והכין על פי כתבי יד ודפוסים יוסף דוד קאפח (ירושלים: מוסד הרב קוק), קז-קכ.

Carlebach, Elisheva. Divided Souls: Converts From Judaism in Germany, 1500-1750 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), Chapter 1: The Medieval Legacy Capelli, Piero. “Conversion to Christianity and Anti-Talmudic Criticism from Petrus rge K. Hasselhoff, Knut MartinצAlfonsi to Nicolas Donin and Pablo Christiani,” in G Stnkel (eds.) Transcending Words. The Language of Religious Contact Between Buddhists, Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Premodern Times, (Bochum: Winkler 2015) 89-102. Chazan, Robert. Barcelona and Beyond: The Disputation of 1263 and its Aftermath (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), 17-38 (Chapter 2: Setting and Dramatis Personae). Goldin, Simha. Apostasy and Jewish Identity in High Middle Ages Northern Europe: Are you Still my Brother (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 52-76 (chapter 4: Self Definition and Halakha).

page 3 / 6

Elukin, Jonathan. “The Discovery of the Self: Jews and Conversion in the Twelfth Century,” in Michael A. Signer and John Van Engen (eds.), Jews and Christians in twelfth-century Europe. (Notre Dame IN: University of Notre-Dame Press, 2001), 63-76. Gutwirth Eleazer, “Conversions to Christianity amongst Fifteenth-Century Spanish Jews: An Alternative Explanation,” in Daniel Carpi et al. (eds.), Shlomo Simonsohn Jubilee Volume (Tel-Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1993), 97-121 Nirenberg, David. “Mass Conversion and Genealogical Mentalities: Jews and Christians in Fifteenth-Century Spain”, Past and Present 2002 (174), 3-41. Nock. A. D. Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion From Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933; reprinted by John Hopkins University Press, 1998), 1-17 [Chapter 1: The Idea of Conversion]. Petrus Alfonsi, Dialogue Against the Jews, translated by Irvin M. Resnick (Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2006), 39-50 (97-119). Rambo, Lewis R. Understanding Religious Conversion (New-Haven: Yale University Press, 1993), 1-19.

Additional Reading Material: מרחביה, חן אלימלך. התלמוד בראי הנצרות: היחס לספרות ישראל שלאחר המקרא בעולם הנוצרי בימי הביניים [1248-1500] (ירושלים: מוסד ביאליק, 1970), 227-248; 249-290. כהן, ג'רמי, "ויכוח פריז השני והויכוח היהודי-נוצרי של המאה ה13-," תרביץ סח (תשנ"ט), 557-579. הרטמן, דוד. "'אגרת השמד' לרבינו משה בן מיימון: אספקלריה למורכבות הפסיקה ההלכתית," + מחקרי ירושלים במחשבת ישראל ב, ג (תשמ"ג), 362-403. ,+

Capelli, Piero. “Nicolas Donin, the Talmud Trial of 1240, and the Struggles between Church and State in Medieval Europe,” in Elisheva Baumgarten et al. (eds.) Entangeled Histories: Knowledge Authority and Jewish Knowledge in the Thirteenth Century (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), 159-180. Chazan, Robert. "Maestre Alfonso of Valladolid and the New Missionizing." Revue des Etudes Juives 143, no. 1/2 (1984), 83-94. Chazan, Robert. "Undermining the Jewish Sense of Future: Alfonso of Valladolid and the New Christian Missionizing," in Mark D. Meyerson and Edward D. English (eds.) Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Medieval and Early Modern Spain: Interaction and Cultural Change (Notre Dame Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1999), 179-194. Chazan, Robert. Daggers of Faith: Thirteenth-Century Christian Missionizing and Jewish Response (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), 38-48 [Chapter 3: Coercion in the Service of Christian Truth]. Cohen, Jeremy. The Friars and the Jews: The Evolution of Medieval Anti-Judaism. Ithaca (New York: Cornell University Press, 1982), 77-99 (chapter 4: The Spread of Inquisitorial Activity); 103-128 (Chapter 5: The School of Raymond de Penaforte: Pablo Christiani). Cohen, Jeremy. “The Mentality of the Medieval Jewish Apostate: Peter Alfonsi, Hermann of Cologne, and Pablo Christiani,” in Todd M. Endlman (ed.), Jewish Apostasy in the Modern World (New-York: Holmes & Meier, 1987), 20-47.

page 4 / 6

Goldin, Simha. Apostasy and Jewish Identity in High Middle Ages Northern Europe: Are you Still my Brother (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 1-22 [Chapter 1: Early Beginnings]; 31-51 [Chapter 3 Theological Confrontation with Christianity’s Success]. nea deבGutwirth Eleazer, “Lineage in XVth Century Hispano-Jewish Thought”, Miscel .rabes y hebraicos 34 (1985), 85-91ב estudios Hames, Harvey J. “The Language of Conversion: Ramon Llull’s Art as a Vernacular,” in The Vulgar Tongue: Medieval and Postmedieval Vernacularity, Fiona Somerset and Nicholas Watson (eds.) (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003), 43-56. Hames, Harvey J. “It Takes Three to Tango: Ramon Llull, Solomon Ibn Adret And Alfonso Of Valladolid Debate The Trinity,” in Ivy A. Corfis (ed.), Al-Andalus Sepharad and Medieval Iberia, (2010), 43-68. Kozodoy, Maud. The Secret Faith of Maestre Honoratus: Profiyat Duran and Jewish Identity in Late Medieval Iberia (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). Malkiel, David. “Jews and Apostates in Medieval Europe: Boundaries, Real and Imagined,” Past and Present 194, 2007 3-34. Morrison, Karl. Understanding Conversion (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1992). Schwartz, Yossef. “Images of Revelation and Spaces of Knowledge, The Jew, the Christian and the Christian-Jew: Jewish Apostates as Cultural Mediators in Medieval Spain,” in Alexander Fidora and Matthias Tischler (eds.), Christian North – Moslem South (Mnster, 2011), 267–287. Shatzmiller, Joseph. “Jewish converts to Christianity in Medieval Europe, 1200-1500”, in Michael Goodich et al. (eds.), Cross Cultural Convergences in the Crusader Period: Essays Presented to Aryeh Grabois on his Sixty-Fifth Birthday (New York: Peter Lang, 1995), 297-318. Szpiech, Ryan. Conversion and Narrative: Reading and Religious Authority in Medieval Polemic (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013). Tartakoff, Paola. Between Christian and Jew: Conversion and Inquisition in the Crown of Aragon, 1250-1391 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 13-15, 34-55, 56-57; 101-105 [The inquisitorial trial of the convert Pere and his Jewish instigators]; 63-80 [Chapter 3: Jewish Conversion, Converts, and Christian Society]. Yisraeli, Yosi. “Constructing and Undermining Converso Jewishness: Profiat Duran a," in Miri Rubin and Ira Katznelson (eds.), Religiousםand Pablo de Santa Mar Conversion: Historical Experiences and Meanings (Farnham: Ashgate, 2014), 185-215.

Course/Module evaluation: End of year written/oral examination 0 % Presentation 0 % Participation in Tutorials 20 %

page 5 / 6

Project work 80 % Assignments 0 % Reports 0 % Research project 0 % Quizzes 0 % Other 0 %

Additional information:

page 6 / 6

Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)